The Fairy Ring
by affectivefallacy
Summary: When Rory Gilmore was 10 years old she thought Babette's old tree stump was a fairy ring. Jess Mariano didn't. takes place in 'On Common Ground' universe
1. Chapter 1

my rule was that I wasn't gonna post any of my other 'On Common Ground' stories until after I finished 'On Common Ground'. But after the revival I needed a very alternate universe with a little bit of happiness and fluff. If you are not familiar with this universe, all you need to know is Jess and Rory are childhood friends. The story will be told in six short and sweet vignettes.

* * *

"Well, it looks like one, doesn't it?"

Jess looked out from sitting on the new Gilmore house porch, across the lawn to the edge of the crazy neighbor lady's property. There sat a tree stump, moss growing up the sides of it and a small ring of mushrooms protruding along the top edge.

"Maybe," he said, squinting his eyes against the mid-morning sunlight. "The top of it, maybe."

"Right?" Rory smiled, her voice high. "Just like in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_."

"That play was stupid," Jess said, picking himself up from the steps and moving over to the porch bench. Rory followed and turned around, hanging by her arms onto the chipped and faded railing she to face Jess. She smiled sweetly.

"… What?"

"I thought we should stake out here and see if a fairy comes. Y'know, since there's a fairy ring and all."

Jess pressed himself further down into the bench seat, looking at her skeptically. "Why would you want to wait around for Puck to show up?"

"Not Puck," she said, rolling her eyes, "A real fairy."

"Oh, yeah," Jess said, his tone dropping an octave as he narrowed his eyes, "A _real_ fairy, duh."

Rory ignored him and swung around, looking back out at the tree stump. "I figure if we wait long enough, we might see something."

Jess jumped up from the seat and came to stand beside her, hanging his arms over the railing. "Yeah, and if you wait on the top of the steps all night maybe you'll see Santa bring the presents."

"No, you won't," Rory intoned looking at him sharply, "He doesn't come if you're not asleep."

"Oh my god." Jess dropped his head with a groan.

Rory pushed off of the railing, her long hair whipping around her face as she dashed over to the patio table and picked up a chipped white plate with a peanut and butter jelly sandwich cut in two triangles on top of it. She sat down on the floor next to the porch rail and put the sandwich down there with her, picking up one half and holding it out to Jess. "Now, come on," she said. "I can't wait all by myself."

Jess stared down at her, watching the purple jelly drip out from between the dry white bread slices held carefully in her hand. "Fine," he said, sitting down Indian style across from her and taking the half sandwich. Holding it on either end he bit into almost the whole thing, the peanut butter sticking to the roof of his mouth. Rory smiled at him and he raised his eyebrows at her from over the rim of the crust, swallowing quickly.

"Okay," Rory grinned, turning out to the lawn and looking intently through the handrails. "Let's watch."


	2. Chapter 2

The crumbs of three-fourths of a PB&J sandwich littered the plate and pants legs of two ten-year-olds while the alleged 'fairy ring' still remained the same, a motionless moss-covered stump guarded from the back by an army of gnomes. Jess wiped his hands on his cargos and looked over at Rory, her face soft but fiercely concentrated on watching for a fairy to appear.

Jess let his gaze wander around, over the new property that the Gilmore girls had just moved into a little less than a month ago. The house was still full of half unpacked boxes but the essentials for every room were laid out, excepting the kitchen, which had nearly nothing essential to being rightfully called a kitchen within it.

Jess had an once-over of the lawn, nothing catching his eye, until he was back to the fairy ring, where the door behind the army of gnomes swung open. A woman with frazzled blonde hair stepped out onto her porch and saw the two kids sitting, staring into her lawn.

"Oh, you two!" she called, her voice grating against Jess' ears. He ducked his head down and tried to look very busy staring at something on the floor, but Rory stood up and smiled at her.

"Hi, Babette!" she called.

"Hello, doll!" Babette called back. She craned her neck and saw Jess on the ground beside Rory. "Oh, what are you two gorgeous kids up to? Hot as a mug out here, I tell ya'!"

"We're looking for a fairy," Rory answered unabashedly. Jess nudged the back of her leg with the toe of his shoe.

Babette blinked once and then looked around the yard. "Oh!" she said suddenly, "Ya' mean a fairy-fairy like in a fairytale. Whew!"

Rory furrowed her brow and then nodded once. "Yep. We think that's a fairy ring," she said pointing at the stump.

" _You_ do," Jess muttered.

Babette eyed the stump for a moment and then let out a loud, raspy laugh. "Oh, that's just darling. Morey!" she screamed. Jess grimaced. "The kiddies next door think our stump is a fairy ring! Ah, _darling_! Never heard anything like it!" She tossed her head back and started into the house. "Oh, you crazy gorgeous kids have fun then!"

"Thank you, Babette!" Rory wrapped one arm around the support next to her and looked down at Jess.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked, standing up and leaning against the banister.

"What? You have to be nice to the neighbors."

Jess snorted. "No you don't."

Rory narrowed her eyes at him and he stared at her unblinking from underneath his bangs, hands folded neatly behind his back. "Just watch the fairy ring, Jess," Rory grumbled, breaking the gaze and shoving his shoulder.

Jess stumbled back and gasped, "Though she be but little, she is fierce!" He laughed lightly, watching her frown.

"What?" Rory giggled as she looked at him.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Jess shouted, tossing his head back and spinning around in place. He dramatically fell back against the banister and then turned around, throwing his arms over the side. He looked over at Rory, mirroring her position, and smiled at her. She laughed and smiled back.


	3. Chapter 3

Jess blew out a puff of air, the dark curls hanging just above his eyes dancing up and then settling back in place. He looked upward and saw the sun etched in the cloudless light blue sky, just above the tips of the leaves on the top of the oak tree in the front yard, large and white and glaring. He rested his chin back on his arms, folded against the porch rail, eyes half-lidded as he looked everywhere but directly at the tree stump. "It's been an hour and a half."

Rory glanced over at him and then back to the 'fairy ring'. "You'd make a terrible field biologist."

"Oh, wow," Jess said, head popping up. "You're right." He spoke in slow awe, eyes widening, leaning his hands against the banister as he looked at Rory who was now turned towards him quizzically. "Good thing that's at the top of my list of things I never wanted to be ever anyway." He caught her eyes pointedly as he turned his body to face the house.

"Fine," Rory sighed, brushing her hair off the side of her face. "Be grumpy."

"I will, thank you," Jess said, voice chipper. He went to go sit down against the siding of the house, looking at the back of the girl in front of him. She kept staring out at the mushroom-ringed tree stump and he kept staring at the floral print on the back of her blouse, tracing the outline of each flower petal with his eyes. The sun wavered in the sky and the jelly from Rory's remaining half of the sandwich dripped slowly down onto the plate.

"This is silly, you know that," his voice cut through the brittle mid-morning summer air.

"Shh!"

Jess folded his arms against his chest. Rory leaned in, still intently watching, the wooden porch creaking underneath her.

Jess flopped over onto his backside, the knots in the wooden slats rubbing against his shirt, and pressed his legs up against the siding of the house, knees bent as he stared up at the underside of the overhang, counting cobwebs and moths.

The door clicked open to the left of them and they both turned their heads to see Lorelai walking out onto the porch. Jess lolled his head over onto its side and eyed her upside down.

"Hey, Mom."

"What're we doing out here all day?" Lorelai asked, looking between the two of them. "I thought you two had an unnatural kid aversion to the great outdoors."

"We're waiting for a fairy to come," Rory told her.

Lorelai quirked an eyebrow and then looked over at Jess. He raised his eyebrows back at her from his position still flat against the floor.

Lorelai shook her head and stifled a laugh. She stepped over beside Rory, lightly touching the top of her head. "Okay, hun. Well, make sure you get a giant jar to trap it in so we can pay for your Harvard tuition."

"Sure, sure," Rory said, eyes still glued towards the stump.

Lorelai looked back over at Jess who lifted his eyes back up to the ceiling. "Note to self," he muttered, "Take Uncle Luke up on fishing trips more often."

Lorelai sighed and walked back into the house, murmuring something about the pitfalls of high school Shakespeare productions that are made open to the public.


	4. Chapter 4

The shadows of the day passed over Rory's face and the tree stump remained still under the rising sun. She let out a small sigh and looked over her shoulder. Jess had his hands folded across his stomach and his dark curls were splayed out against the pale gray wooden planks, the wavy mop on his head steadily growing longer since his uncle evidently forgot that little boys need haircuts.

Rory knelt down onto the floor and gripped her hand around one of the handrails, resting her forehead in the space between the bars. "Maybe fairies get hungry … maybe if I put a bit of the sandwich out by the tree stump," she mused. There was no response from behind her. Rory shifted in place so she was no longer sitting on her knees.

"Jess?" she said. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

There was still no response. Rory twisted around in place. "Jess."

Jess watched a moth flutter back and forth through the rafters above him, bumping against the ceiling as it went. He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them again, the moth now dodging one of the spider webs clinging to the edge the nearest support. "I don't know," he said deliberately, throwing his arms spread out on either side of him.

Rory frowned. She sat up straighter. "Oh, come on. You can't just not know. You've gotta have some idea. Like me," she perked up, "I want to be –"

"I know," Jess groaned, elongating the word as he half turned over onto his stomach, legs still kicked up against the wall. "You wanna be _Christiane Amampour_." He said the name with a mocking reverence.

"I do," Rory replied, ignoring his tone and lifting her head proudly.

Jess rolled up into a sitting position and began picking at a splinter of wood on the floor.

"You have to have something in mind," Rory insisted, unable to imagine not knowing at all what you wanted to be when you were bigger.

"Why?" Jess asked.

"Cause you do," she said. "You can't have no idea. Cause then you won't know what you'll major in in college." She nodded firmly, sure she was right.

"Well maybe I'll run a diner." Jess set his face into a fake wistful look, the splinter of wood snapping away from the floor in his hand. "Then I don't need a major."

"You wanna take over Luke's?" Rory asked, sounding curious and little bit of wondered excitement sneaking into her voice.

"No," Jess said sharply, cutting her a glare up through his bangs. He dug the edge of the splinter into the soft wood between his legs. "I was joking."

"Oh." She looked briefly back out towards the fairy ring. It was the same, only the shadow cast by it was longer. She turned back, "Then seriously, Jess. What do you want to be?"

The splinter of wood between his fingers snapped at the base where he pushed it into the floor. "Nothing," he said, an edge in his voice. "I'm gonna be nothing, so leave me alone about it already." He fell back over onto his back with a thud, kicking the soles of his sneakers up hard against the siding again, staring blankly up into the rafters and all the bugs dancing aimlessly though them.

Rory dropped her head. A gentle breeze swept through the porch and brushed her hair against her face where it stuck to her lips and the light sheen of sweat on her cheek. She slowly folded her legs in and turned, pressing her face up against the rails again.


	5. Chapter 5

a little longer than the others, since we're nearing the end :)

* * *

The morning sun had drifted into the peak of the sky, a sweltering on-the-dot afternoon light beating down that even made the heat under the shade of the porch unbearably thick. Jess continued lying on this back staring up at the rafters and Rory continued sitting staring intently at the fairy ring. Every few moments she would glance back at Jess. His waves of dark hair were sticking against this forehead and behind his ears, his eyelids were drooping under the heavy atmosphere, and his fingers were flicking from where they were rested one against his stomach and the other on the ground. His fingers tapped, tapped, tapped against the wooden boards and a listless look was stuck to his lips, different from his normally subdued expression with a shy but smug smirk always hidden underneath.

Rory sighed and turned back to the fairy ring. The minutes ticked by, the stump remained the same, and Jess' tapping fingers tickled the back of her neck like cool licks of water running down in the otherwise suffocating heat. She'd upset him. She thought it was the first time since they'd become friends just a couple months ago that they had fought. Or sorta fought. They had bickered and playfully teased one another and gotten in more verbal sparring matches over books than she could count, but they all had come to the end result of a certainty swelling in her chest that she liked him more and more and they were going to be good friends for a very long time. This had been different. It only took a few words to feel like a wall put up between them. She knew Jess must be sensitive about some things, just like she was, but she was still discovering what they were.

"Watch the fairy ring!" Rory stood up from her place on the porch and just as Jess started to turn his head towards her voice, he saw her dashing inside the house.

The creaky door clicked closed and the air settled around the porch once more. Jess rolled his head to the other side, his ear pressing against the wood and the sounds around himself half dulled. Everything was still, breezeless and hot, and he could just hear cicadas nearby. The vision of the dirt stuck into the paint of the patio table legs and the garden gnomes down the stairs beyond them swam in and out of his vision. The sweat on his forearm pressed his skin into the wooden floor as he wriggled his fingers in his line of sight. He wondered how on earth Rory suddenly had the energy to up and run into the house. It was an unbearably hot summer day and while it was making him tired and irritable she seemed as energized as usual. The stupid tree stump. She got wrapped up and convinced of the silliest things. There was no reason to watch the ridiculous tree stump at all.

Jess turned over onto his stomach and propped himself up on his forearms, his shirt pushing up and stomach pressing against the cool, dusty wood. He brought his head down and pushed his palm up against his forehead, mushing his curls together into a mop of sweat at the edge of his hairline.

He stared out and watched the fairy ring.

About a minute later he heard the brass click of the lock to his side.

"Okay," Rory said. He shifted his gaze to look up at her and saw her standing there in her faded blue jeans with an armful of books. Jess sat up as she knelt down and carefully let the pile of books onto the floor. They spilled over each other, sinking into the porch shadows and resting easily. Jess tucked his hands in his lap and looked over the hoard. His eyes scanned the various colors and sizes of the books, taking in the titles and licking the sweat off his lips, fingers itching in his lap to turn the soft edges of paper.

"Take your pick," Rory smiled, spreading her arms out at the books in between them.

Jess ticked his gaze up at her.

She extracted a particularly thick volume from the pile. "This is what I've been reading," she turned it over so he could see the cover. _'The Fountainhead'_. "It's a little hard to understand though."

"It looks it."

Rory nodded at the pile again. "You can take anything you want. So you won't be so bored."

Jess glanced up at her and then back out at the tree stump. "You're not watching it."

"Yes I am," Rory chimed, nevertheless with the book open in her hands and nose stuck in it. "Come on, pick something. You can borrow it. Or them. As many as you like."

Jess reached hesitantly towards the pile. He picked up a volume and put it down, picking up another, laying it down, and then another after that. He wasn't really looking at the titles or judging them by anything, other than the weight in his hand and the feel against his fingertips and the draw of it in his gut. He at last settled on a thin worn volume, not normally how Rory kept her books, and turned it around and around in his hands. _'The Old Man and the Sea'_. Rory glanced up from her reading to have a look at his choice.

"Oh," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You can _keep_ that one."

Jess smirked, cracking it open and laying it in his lap. The pages were crinkled and stiff as if they'd gotten wet at one point and dried. He ran his hand down the pages, hearing the paper flattening and crackling under his palm. He darted his eyes over to the first page, licked his lips, settled himself on the floor of the porch, and started to read.

Many minutes passed, just the two of them, sitting there in the heat, the pile of books between them, reading each on their own. The silent companionable joy stretched between and spread around them, like warmth and easiness and a smile tugging at Jess' lips for no other reason than thinking about it. They read and read and read, and Rory sometimes still looked up at the fairy ring, but the world around them was forgotten to the pages, and the only thing left outside the covers of their books was the knowledge of each other's presence. Sharing in getting lost and getting found together. The words swirled around in Jess' mind, tasted on the tip of his tongue, itched inside his palms, and glowed behind his eyes. With each sentence he built up, each picture and moment and word and pleasure, he felt surer and surer of the things around him. Of this home and that porch and Luke and Lorelai and Rory.

 _'The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him'_

He understood a little why maybe Rory wanted to see a fairy ring that day, no matter how much common sense said it was just a tree stump. She pulled the magic of her books out into the real world. Jess tugged out, and grappled with, and understood a little bit more of the real world from inside each of his books.

"Hey, Jess."

He blinked, tearing his gaze away from the words and up to Rory.

"Maybe when you grow up you could be a writer."


End file.
